Andy Devine Days Parade entries available through Sept. 14

Yvonne Cossio, Parks and Rec superintendent in charge of the 48th annual Andy Devine Days Parade, is taking parade entries through Sept. 14. There is no fee to enter the parade, which will be held Sept. 29 as part of the two-day Andy Devine Days Festival. (Hubble Ray Smith/Daily Miner)

KINGMAN – As chairwoman of the 48th annual Andy Devine Days Parade, Yvonne Cossio is putting out a call to the community for more parade entries and wants to emphasize that everyone is welcome to participate and there are no entry fees.

Cossio, recreation superintendent with the City of Kingman Parks and Recreation, said the parade normally gets about 90 entries, but she’s received just 23 with a month remaining until the Sept. 14 deadline.

The parade is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, starting at Beale and First streets and proceeding east on Beale to Fifth Street, turning north to Oak Street and then heading back west to Lee Williams High School.

It’s Kingman’s biggest parade of the year and celebrates the town’s western heritage rooted in the railroad, ranching and Route 66. This year’s theme is “Stagecoach Days.”

“It’s part of our heritage and how we got associated with the heritage of Andy Devine,” Cossio said. “It’s our history.”

Devine, who grew up in Kingman, was an actor with a raspy voice who appeared in many western films, beginning in the 1930s, and was best known for his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers.

Parade applications are available online at www.cityofkingman.gov, under Parks and Recreation, or at the Parks and Rec office at 3333 N. Harrison St. The phone number is 928-757-7919. Participation plaques can be purchased for $25.

Cossio said she’d like to see more civic organizations and businesses build floats for the parade. Trophies are awarded to the best float in three categories: youth group; business or commercial; and civic or fraternal.

“Every year we try to pull float participants, people who’ll go out and create a float, and get them to stick around and participate in a display during the festival,” Cossio said.

Top student achievers from each of Kingman’s schools will ride with the mayor in the Mayor’s Float.

Trophies are also awarded to winners in several categories of vehicles, walkers and equestrian entrants.

About 1,000 people turn out to cheer on marching bands from Kingman, Lee Williams and Mohave high schools, The Kingsmen, Boys and Girls Scout troops, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, local fire departments and the Wells Fargo stagecoach.

The two-day Andy Devine Days Festival starts at noon Friday, Sept. 28, with the 6x6 on Route 66 art show at Kingman Center for the Arts. Other events include a Doc Holiday presentation by Sounds of Kingman at Lee Williams High School, free fun zone for the kids and street concerts.

Parade day events include the art show, fun zone, Farmers Market, Kingman Railroad Museum open house, Great West Car Show, Tractor Supply human tractor pull, and the Andy Devine Days PRCA Rodeo at Mohave County Fairgrounds.